There are a wide variety of railings that are used to create safety barriers for balconies or other raised platforms. These railings commonly consist of posts and rails. The railings are typically connected to the posts using welded joints, bolted attachments, or threads. Assembling these connections is difficult and time consuming, and they are not easily altered for different configurations.
Portable railings are railings that can be installed or removed in a short period of time. These railings are often used at construction sites, in commercial buildings, or any other place with an elevated platform. Portable railings must be capable of quick disassembly and reassembly at a different location. A portable railing provides the safety and flexibility to use a raised platform for a variety of purposes.
The most important feature of a portable railing is the connection between the rail and the post. The connection determines the ease with which the railing can be assembled or disassembled. Prior art rail assemblies use conventional connections, such as welded joints, bolts, or threaded connections. These connections are undesirable because of the amount of time and effort required to install or uninstall the rail assembly.
Welding creates a permanent connection that is not easily taken apart. Welded joints also require expensive equipment on site to create them, and a certain level of skill to operate the equipment. Welding may be acceptable for permanent railings, but does not suit the needs of a portable railing.
Bolted and clamped connections require extra tooling such as wrenches or pliers. The greatest limitation of bolt and clamp connections is the bolt holes or the marks left behind after the railing is disassembled. Bolt and clamp connections usually contact the surface of the rail and post and damage the paint or finish at the points of contact. These clamps also require extra clamping parts in addition to the rail and post. These additional parts are easily lost when the railing is disassembled and moved to a different location.
Threaded connections require special couplings for the joints between the rails and the posts. These couplings must be preformed with threads before the railing can be installed. The rails must also be threaded to connect with the couplings and posts. This type of railing can only be installed in predetermined lengths because the rail must end at each post. This limitation greatly reduces the versatility of threaded connection railings. The threads on the rails are also easily damaged when moving the railing, and may not fit back into the coupling when the railing is reinstalled.
In light of the problems and limitations of the prior art described above, a need exists for a modular rail assembly that is versatile, can be quickly assembled or disassembled with minimal use of tools, and can be assembled in a variety of different configurations. Each preferred embodiment of the present invention achieves one or more of these results.